Suspicions of ‘cult activity’ end in sex charges against Washington dad

Charge: Man, mothers taught dozen children to hide abuse from police

Thrown together at an Ellensburg-area campground, the family’s campsite seemed all wrong.

A Kittitas County sheriff’s deputy, called to the camp following reports of unattended children there, would later describe a feeling that there was “some kind of cult activity” going on at Melford Warren Jr.’s campsite.

Deputies found plenty of kids, but no food or shelter. Or parents.

Now, though, investigators claim Warren, 43, was nearby when deputies arrived on Sept. 15. Warren was in the woods, detectives say, raping one of his 12 children.

The incident proved a near miss for investigators, one of several during the eight-month investigation into Warren and his two lovers, Shannon Felicia Ann Smith, 41, and Amanjot Kaur Jaswal, 28. Warren was arrested – he’d been charged elsewhere with attacking Smith with a sword – but then released, only to disappear.

Following up on charges brought May 15 by Kitsap County prosecutors, federal marshals arrested Warren on Thursday. He’d run about as far as he could go – marshals found him in Florida, where he remains jailed pending his extradition to Washington.

Warren has been charged with child rape and related crimes on allegations stemming from his family’s tenure at a Port Orchard home. Investigators contend he systematically abused his children while they were living in and around Seattle as well, though he has not yet been charged with crimes there.

Jaswal and Smith face misdemeanor charges related to child neglect allegations. Investigators claim the children were left starving and unclothed before child services workers took custody of them in September.

Kitsap County investigators began their work in late August after a social worker at Tacoma’s Mary Bridge Hospital reported an apparent assault on Jaswal’s 14-month-old daughter.

The girl’s broken arm appeared suspicious to hospital staff. Asked to allow an X-ray of her child’s arm, Jaswal refused “because she feared the radiation might prevent her daughter from being able to have children someday,” Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Detective Nicole Menge said in charging papers. Warren is now accused of throwing the infant against a couch, allowing her to bounce off and break her arm.

Investigators determined Jaswal, Smith and Warren were living together at a home located in a forested, rural area east of Port Orchard, in a house located in the 1900 block of Woods Road.

Court papers indicate Warren was sexually involved with both women, and that he has fathered about a dozen children between them. Menge said investigators haven’t been able to pin down the relationship between Warren and the women.

“The nature of the family relationship is not well defined by the actors involved,” the detective said in court papers. “Shannon and Amanjot admitted to bearing Melford’s children, but refused to describe him as their husband or boyfriend.”

The children, who range in age from infanthood to 13 years old, have “multiple and very unusual names,” Menge continued. They appeared to have been trained not to speak with police.

Menge said Warren fled the Port Orchard home when detectives arrived, looking for him. They later learned that several of the children hid in the home’s attic during the police visit.

Warren was contacted by investigators the following day. Menge said Warren and the women weren’t honest with detectives, who believed Smith, Jaswal and the children were under Warren’s sway.

Despite the unusual situation and the child’s broken arm, no charges were brought at the time.

“Although the break to (the girl’s) arm was highly suspicious there was not enough evidence at the time to sustain an assault charge,” Menge said in charging papers, noting that Jaswal claimed the girl was hurt accidentally. A few days later, the family abruptly left Kitsap County.

Warren was next contacted by police on Sept. 15 at the Ellensburg campsite. Kittitas County deputies were called out after a report of children left unattended there.

A Kittitas deputy told detectives he felt “some kind of cult activity” was going on at the campsite, Menge said in court papers.

“He said that the children’s behavior was suspicious during the law enforcement contact at the campsite,” the detective said. “They would not speak with the adults involved with the case unless the oldest boy told them they could.”

A deputy heard the children refer to Jaswal as “the breeder” while discussing how to hide from police, according to charging papers.

Department of Social and Health Services workers took custody of seven children then and have since recovered the others. Warren was arrested on a warrant issued in Maryland, where he has strong family ties.

Warren was released from Kittitas County custody after Baltimore authorities declined to extradite him on the assault charge. At the time, investigators in Washington didn’t believe they had evidence to support charges against Warren or the women.

That changed May 7, when two of the children made a host of allegations against Warren during separate interviews with investigators.

According to charging papers, the girls claimed they’d been abused by Warren while the family was living in King County. Warren and the rest previously lived in Kent, Vashon and Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood.

One girl is alleged to have told police Warren broke her arm and beat her because she didn’t know how to read. She said Warren threatened her with a gun, choked her and beat her with a bat, according to charging papers.

The other girl told police Warren had raped her the day she was rescued from her family at the Kittitas County campsite, Menge said in charging papers. That assault is alleged to have been the most recent in a series of sexual abuses.

Investigators contend the sexual and physical abuse had been going on for years before Child Protective Services workers seized the children and deputies arrested Warren. Menge said Smith and Jaswal were aware of at least some of the abuse and had tried to protect Warren.

Court papers indicate Warren kept some kind of journal of the sexual exploitation. Menge said he took notes during at least one sexual assault.

Warren, Smith and Jaswal had hidden their family from the wider community and kept their children isolated, Menge said. They bolted each time they drew law enforcement attention.

“The children disclosed that they have never seen a dentist, only been to the doctor once, and never been to school,” Menge told the court. The adults failed to feed the children and left several locked in a bathroom for days at a time, according to charging papers.

According to charging papers, Warren told his family he was leaving for Oregon to “find a farm” near Portland. As it turned out, he went farther.

Federal marshals arrested Warren in Miami last Thursday, three days after a warrant for his arrest was issued.

Kitsap County prosecutors have charged Warren with first-degree child molestation, second-degree assault of a child and two counts of first-degree rape of a child. Prosecutors have asked that he be held on $5 million bail when he arrives in Kitsap County.

Warren remains jailed at a Miami-Dade County detention center. Arrested on a federal charge, he is expected to be returned to Washington in coming weeks.

Smith and Jaswal have pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges each faces. They are expected to return June 19 to Kitsap County District Court.